The Kiss of True Love
by Manille
Summary: Just a simple story to the Yu Yu Hakusho-Kai. Yusuke/Keiko!


****

The Kiss of True Love _  
by Manille_

* * *

It was a peaceful morning in Tokyo. The surroundings of the suburban neighborhood were quiet. The winter sun hung lowly against the cloud-covered heavens, scintillating the white, snow-covered grounds.

Even on the foreground, where the Yukimura ramen shop stood, everything was quiet.

Quiet....

__

"Baka yarou!!!"

Er...looks like we've gone wrong again....

Inside, pots and pans were flying in the air. A figure hovered low under one of the tables, his arms covering his dark head. Behind the counter, an enraged-looking girl with brown locks stood, a glass plate in hand. She seemed ready to throw it at the poor guy.

"Please, Keiko, not that!"

"I'll throw anything I want to!" the girl screamed at the top of her lungs, so loud that tears filled her large brown eyes. _"Baka, baka, baka!!!"_

"I told you, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" the boy shouted in a high-pitched tone from under the table.

Keiko lifted the ornate plate above her head. Yusuke's eyes widened with shock. "Keiko!" he yelled almost pleadingly, closing his eyes for the inevitable crash.

Keiko started to throw the plate towards him, when her arms suddenly hung limply on her sides. The plate was still in her hand.

Yusuke cracked one eye open. Seeing that he was safe, he lifted his head up.

"Yusuke, I hate you."

"I said I—" Yusuke stopped protesting when he saw Keiko's face. 

The eyes that were flaming with anger just a second ago were now...soft and.... 

__

Oh, no, he thought, alarmed. _She's gonna cry again...!_

Keiko set the plate on the counter, keeping her eyes on Yusuke. 

He started to climb out of his hiding place. "Keiko, I—"

__

"BAKA YAROU!!!"

And a second later, Urameshi Yusuke was sent flying out of the ramen shop and into the street. He fell face-flat on the snow. God knows what had happened to him.

"Don't come back, Urameshi Yusuke!"

Keiko's voice was somewhat muffled from Yusuke's earshot, for Yusuke's face was buried deep into the snow. It took him a while and a great deal of effort to lift his own crumpled body up. And as he did, he heard the door to the shop shut close.

Yusuke winced. Okay, fine! He and Keiko had yet another misunderstanding. Was it the second time that month? And it was only the middle of November!

"That Keiko! Always so furious about everything I do or say...!"

Yusuke stuck his index finger into his ear and tried to shake out the snow that had settled itself in there. He looked back at where he had fallen down. His figure was engraved on the snow, like some Egyptian hieroglyphic showing a man with arms on either side of his head and knees bent in an almost-perfect ninety-degree angle. 

Meaning? The man was just beaten by his girlfriend.

"That's Yukimura Keiko for you," Yusuke muttered to no one in particular.

Yusuke shook the snow off his green jacket and ran his fingers through his slicked hair. He and Keiko was a couple for...what, a year? And they had never-ending misunderstandings. 

__

Man, we do come from different worlds, Yusuke thought grimly, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and starting to walk away. _Now to win her back...._

A gleaming point in the sky suddenly caught Yusuke's gaze. A..._star?!_ In the middle of the morning?! Yusuke found himself staring at it. _What the heck...?_

The star seemed to fall down straight at him. Yusuke's mouth gaped open.

The star smacked right into his face. "Ahhh!" it screamed.

Another hieroglyphic figure was engraved on the snow.

"Ugh, damn!" Yusuke scrambled up, shaking the snow off his thick hair. He blinked a few times and focused his gaze on the impostor. "Huh? Koenma?!"

Koenma, the Reikai prince, had his infamous Fuukumen still clenched tightly between his teeth. He was like when Yusuke first saw him, when he was only fourteen years old. The huge hat that he often wore was on the ground, revealing a head that seemed to be ironed.

Yusuke found himself chuckling, even in the presence of the one who gave him a second chance to live years ago. "Koenma, I didn't know you've got nice hair."

"Huh?!" Koenma opened his golden-brown eyes and touched his head. Panicked, he snatched his hat and pulled it to cover his face. Suddenly, the baby-body changed into a more dignified-looking teenager. As Koenma pulled the hat off, it revealed a handsome face, with mysterious eyes and longer chocolate-brown hair.

He glared at Yusuke. "What was it again?"

"Eheh..." Yusuke grinned widely, offering his hand. Koenma took it and stood up. "Nothing. I'm just...surprised you're here." Yusuke's grin widened even more. "I mean, it has been a long time, right?"

"Actually, I went here because I have to tell you something. Something...important."

Yusuke winced at Koenma's straightforward, matter-of-fact tone. He reminded him of Keiko. 

At the thought of the girl with large, murderous eyes and a strong hand, Yusuke shivered.

"What?" Koenma asked.

"Nothing."

Koenma sighed. "Very well. Actually, it's about your girlfriend."

Yusuke blinked twice, his jaw once again hanging open. "K-Keiko?"

"Yes." Koenma eyed Yusuke closely, even suspiciously. "You had a fight with her, didn't you?"

"Er...why?" By this time, Yusuke's heart started to beat faster.

"Didn't you?" Koenma pressed on.

"Yes. But it was just a little—"

Yusuke stopped when he saw Koenma pull off his pacifier. "Watch this, Yusuke," Koenma ordered him, holding the Fuukumen on the palm of his hand.

To Yusuke's surprise, the Fuukumen glowed in a bluish-white light. A V-shaped beam shot out of it upwards, revealing a mirror-like surface in front of Yusuke.

Wait...it wasn't Yusuke. The person in front of him was...not a person...it was a _youkai_!

The _youkai_ Yusuke!

"What am I doing in here?!" Yusuke asked Koenma, half-frightened by his own self with long hair and dark tattoo all over his body. Even his eyes were narrowed menacingly. 

"Okay, here's your lifeline, Urameshi Yusuke...you're not human anymore, right? You're a _youkai_."

Yusuke swallowed. "Yeah...though it wasn't my choice—"

"Have you ever thought about your relationship with Keiko, Yusuke?" Koenma interrupted him before Yusuke can finish the sentence. "Say, fifty years from now, Keiko will grow old and limp. You, on the other hand, won't age a bit!"

"I...won't?" Yusuke's voice came out as a squeak. No, he hadn't given it much thought. He just assumed that...well, he lived his life like a normal human being. And his life with Keiko....

He hadn't given it much thought, either.

"Well, something happened just now," Koenma continued. "The future of each and everyone of you are also controlled by the Reikai. Now, your file in the Reikai seems to have messed up."

"Eh?"

Another picture appeared on the surface of the light. It was Keiko, her brown hair flying wildly against the wind. There still was the innocent yet determined look in her sepia-colored eyes. 

Yusuke gulped once more. "And...what does Keiko have to do with this?"

"This _future_ I'm talking about is _your future_ with Keiko!" Koenma shouted, almost exasperatedly. He sighed and continued. "In your file, there's a gap somewhere in your relationship with her. And even we in Reikai can't figure out what had happened to it. But at the end of the gap, we find that it's you and Keiko who are going to live together as husband and wife."

"H-husband and...wife?!" Yusuke was bewildered at the thought.

"Yes...and to bridge that gap, there's something you must do. If not...." Koenma's voice trailed off.

"If not?"

Koenma closed his fist on the Fuukumen, shutting off the light. "One of you will die, with no chance of reincarnation. Even if you're a _youkai_ with hundreds of years to live."

"WHAT?!"

Koenma closed his eyes and stuck his pacifier back into his mouth. "I'm sorry."

Yusuke's heart was in his throat. Die? 

Keiko..._die?!_

"W-what must...I do?" Yusuke stammered.

Koenma looked at Yusuke intently. "Kiss her."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"And it's not that simple, Yusuke. The kiss should come from within your heart. It should be a kiss of true love. And you should give it to her before midnight this day."

Yusuke still didn't blink.

"That's all. _Sayonara...gambatte kudasai._"

"Hey, wait!"

"Oh, by the way. Keiko mustn't know anything about this."

Before Yusuke spoke another word, Koenma disappeared.

__

How can he just leave so suddenly while I'm in the middle of a desperate situation?! Yusuke thought, clenching his fists. Being reminded of Koenma, he glanced at his watch.

Eleven in the morning.

"Damn!" Yusuke groaned and ran off.

"Keiko, open the door!"

"Shut up! Go away!"

"KEIKO!!!"

"GO AWAY, YUSUKE!!!"

Yusuke slammed his fist on the door to the ramen shop. _Great, _he scolded himself._ You've upset Keiko a while ago and now she won't talk to you. Even to save her life...._

"Keiko, I need to talk to you!"

"I don't want to!" came Keiko's yell.

"But it's _very_ important!"

"I don't care!"

Yusuke gritted his teeth. He was really ready to take the door down—it would be very easy for him. But something prevented him from doing so. "Keiko—please!"

The house was quiet.

To Yusuke's surprise, the door swung open.

"Keiko—"

"Did _you_ say _please_?"

Yusuke looked at Keiko closely. And for the first time that day, Yusuke heaved a sigh of relief. She seemed tame enough....

Keiko batted her eyelashes sweetly.

"Yeah," Yusuke replied, smiling. "I guess I did."

"And do you _actually_ think I would forgive you just because you said _please_?" Keiko's voice was dripping honey.

__

Uh-oh. An alarm went off Yusuke's head. He was frozen in spot.

Before he knew it, the door slammed into his face.

And yet again, he fell down on the snow. A bump was slowly forming on his forehead, where the door hit him.

"Don't come back, Yusuke. I hate you, I hate you!!!"

Keiko closed the door again.

"Arrgh..._Keiko no baka yarou_," Yusuke grumbled to himself, standing up. It was the third time he fell down that day.

"Having a bad day, Yusuke?"

"Yeah, right," Yusuke muttered before he saw the girl who spoke to him. 

When he turned around, he almost slipped on the pavement. "Botan?!"

The blue-haired ferry girl wearing a peach coat giggled, shrugging. "Yeah. Surprised?"

"No, actually. Lots of things happened today that I'm not even surprised to see you."

Botan's smile didn't waver. "Oh. Then I suppose you don't need my help in winning Keiko's heart back."

Yusuke blinked. "You know about this?"

"Obviously, I do." Botan grinned. "I was your assistant when you were still a _tantei_, right? And I'm one of Lord Koenma's favorites."

"Sure, you are," Yusuke mumbled sarcastically.

Botan's eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly, Yusuke suffered a headache courtesy of the ferry girl.

"No wonder Keiko's angry with you," Botan told him. "What did you fight about, anyway?"

Yusuke scratched his head. _What did we fight about, anyway?_ Yusuke asked himself mentally.

Then Yusuke snapped his fingers. "Oh, I remember. She overheard a conversation between Kuwabara and me."

"Oh? What happened?"

Yusuke looked at the sky, as if trying to recall the conversation. "We were talking about a concert in the Tokyo Dome, and Kuwabara was saying something about breaking off my date with Keiko. He said that I mustn't do that. I didn't seem to be on my right mind, because I replied something like, 'Who cares? It's just Keiko.' And the bad thing is, she heard us. That pissed her off."

Botan shook her head in bewilderment. "No wonder she was furious!"

"Yeah, and when I came here this morning, she threw all the utensils she could find at me."

Botan sighed, smiling. "I don't see any reason why she _mustn't_ do that."

"I didn't mean to say that, did I? You know I'm talkative and everything...."

"Yeah, we all know that." Botan reached for something inside one of her coat pockets. It was a can of spray paint. She tossed it at Yusuke. "This might be useful."

Yusuke caught the can and stared at Botan questioningly.

Botan tossed her head towards a worn-down brick wall on the other side of the street. It covered an abandoned lot behind it.

Yusuke looked around. No one was watching.

He looked back at Botan. She winked at him.

Yusuke grinned, and was on his way as he shook the can.

A while later, Yusuke was throwing pebbles towards the window to Keiko's room.

"Yusuke!!! You haven't left yet?!"

"Just come out, will you?" Yusuke shouted.

Yusuke heard Keiko groan out loud. Actually, it sounded more like a tiger's growl.

Keiko's glass window cracked open. Moments passed before Keiko popped her head out.

Yusuke briefly glanced at the wall behind him. On it, he had sprayed big red English words:

****

Yusuke   
ª  
Keiko   
4-ever

Yusuke's face turned pinkish as he turned back to Keiko. "Well?"

Keiko was staring at the wall. Or maybe at Yusuke. Yusuke didn't know.

Finally, Keiko sighed. "Wait for me down there," she said.

Her voice was so soft that Yusuke almost didn't hear her. He didn't quite see the expression on her face. But inside, he was relieved. Ecstatic, even.

__

Yes! Yusuke pumped a fist into the air. _Come down, Keiko, and let me kiss your beautiful lips...._

Suddenly, out of nowhere....

"GAAAAH!!!"

"You're not gonna fool me with your stupid antics this time, Yusuke!"

Yusuke's whole body shook. Keiko looked down on him, a smile playing on her lips. She was holding a pail.

Yusuke was sloshed in freezing water.

Teeth chattering and knees trembling, Yusuke hugged himself and looked up. "I-i-it was-s-n't an-n an-n-tic-c-c...I m-m-meant...w-w-what I wr-r-rote-t-t-t..."

"Well, it's a stupid thing to do, writing graffiti right in front of our house!" Keiko shouted. Yusuke could even hear her giggle.

Yusuke glared at her. Her cheeks were flushed, probably out of embarrassment...or laughing, maybe. Yusuke felt a moment of anger, too.

Keiko pulled the window shut.

"Why did I ever got dragged in this?"

"Now, Hiei," the redheaded Kurama, or Minamino Shuichi, told a small _youkai_ with spiky black hair. "We've got to help Yusuke-kun here. He's in a big dilemma."

"It's not just a dilemma," Yusuke told Kurama. "My life...or Keiko's...is at stake."

"Hn. Talk about serenading a girl at three-thirty in the afternoon!" Hiei drummed his fingers on the fret board of the bass guitar he was holding. "And in the middle of a snow-covered street!"

"I'd do anything to make her come down here, okay?" Yusuke snapped at the fire _youkai_, looking up at Keiko's bedroom window again.

"You always have a knot in your tongue, Urameshi," an orange-topped guy behind a drum set was saying as he twirled a drumstick between his fingers. 

Yusuke sniffed. "Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean," Kuwabara Kazuma replied, "is that you don't think before you act. And you don't think before you say anything. Look at me! Sure I'm talkative, but I never said anything that could hurt my Yukina-san!"

Yusuke saw Hiei glare at Kuwabara.

"Eheh..." Yusuke gulped, images of Hiei's Kokuryuha eating up his best-friend-formerly-known-as-best-enemy flashing before his eyes. Without warning, a stinging sensation shot up inside his nose. "Ah...ah...ACHOO!!!"

"Tsk-tsk." Botan was shaking her head as she threw a box of tissues at Yusuke. Yusuke pulled some and blew his nose.

"Ugh," Hiei groaned.

"Whew," Yusuke sighed, sniffing. "The water she splashed on me was so cold, you know." His voice sounded ridiculously nasal.

"It's _supposed_ to be cold," Kuwabara said. "It's the middle of November!"

"Yeah, but it was worse than Keiko slapping me hard!"

"Okay, okay," Botan clapped her hands together, getting the attention of the former Urameshi team, now the Urameshi Band. "Get ready, everyone. Kurama, you know the intro, right?"

"Yep." Kurama plucked a string from his acoustic guitar.

"Kazuma-kun?"

"Ready."

Yusuke picked up the microphone from the mini-component Botan had brought in from goodness knows where. He sniffed again. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Okay," Botan said lowly. "One...two...three."

Kurama's fingers moved deftly and gracefully across the strings of his guitar. He played a mellow melody, which was soon followed by Hiei's bass. Then Kuwabara's steady drumbeat came in.

Yusuke cleared his throat. When the time came for his to start, he began to sing.

"Day after day, time pass away...and I just can't get you off my mind...."

Feeling satisfied with himself, he threw Botan a triumphant glance. But all he got back was Botan's gaping mouth.

He looked at Kurama and Hiei. They were shocked at him, too.

Yusuke turned the microphone off. "What? What did I do?"

Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei stopped playing their instruments and looked at Yusuke, clearly stunned.

"Er...Yusuke." Botan stepped close at Yusuke and whispered in his ear. "I think you'd better blow your nose first before singing."

Yusuke felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. So he sounded _that_ stupid?

Kurama stepped beside Botan and whispered at Yusuke in a low tone. "Look...Sasaki Nozomu-sama is going to get _really_ pissed off when he hears you sing like this."

Yusuke pulled some tissue paper form the tissue box and blew his nose once more. 

A minute later, the foursome began to play again.

__

"Day after day, time pass away   
And I just can't get you off my mind   
Nobody knows, I hide it inside   
I keep on searching, but I can't find." 

Yusuke found himself swaying to the light pop music. As he continued to sing, he kept his eyes glued on Keiko's bedroom window. _Yoo-hoo, Keiko,_ he was saying in his mind. _Come out, come out wherever you are...._

__

"The courage to show, to letting you know   
I've never felt so much love before   
And once again, I'm thinking about   
Taking the easy way out...."

__

There she is.

She had her head on her hands as she looked down on them. Yusuke felt his heart swell. Keiko's face was flushed, like a while ago, but this time, a sweet smile was on her lips. Her brown eyes were straight on Yusuke. Yusuke continued to snap his fingers to the beat, and even to emote in front of her. He knew that he was blushing as well, but he didn't care. Keiko was really going to forgive him. And they will be saved...the moment Keiko comes down....

Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei joined Yusuke in singing the chorus. Their voices blended together beautifully—Kurama's tenor one, Yusuke and Hiei's baritone, and Kuwabara's bass voice.

__

"But if I let you go, I will never know   
What my life would be, holding you close to me   
Will I ever see, you smiling back at me...."

Yusuke suddenly felt another wave of wheezing come into his nose. _Oh, no, not again...._

"Ah...ah...ACHOO!!!"

Yusuke, not able to recover his balance, fell backwards with the impact the sneeze brought to him. He crashed against Kuwabara's drum set, sending it rumbling down. Hiei, who was standing too near the drum set, also fell down. And before they knew it, a tangle of arms, legs, drums, cymbals, and bass strings were on the snow.

Kurama and Botan's mouths were agape as they stared at the heap. They looked at each other and grinned frivolously.

"Kuwabara, your foot is on my nose!" Hiei screamed, kicking at the drums with his left leg.

" 'N yosh ish 'n m' maw'!" Kuwabara shouted back.

"Oh, darn!" Yusuke muttered painfully. As he opened his eyes, he saw Keiko looking down at him, with an I-can't-believe-this look written all over his face.

She softly closed her window.

Yusuke waited, still lying down.

Keiko didn't come down for him.

"This day must be a long one for him."

"Yeah," Botan whispered at Kurama, who was sitting beside her. "Even I can't believe how Keiko could be this hardheaded."

Hiei and Kuwabara have left after their instruments broke. So Kurama, Botan and Yusuke were the only ones left in front of the Yukimura ramen shop.

Kurama and Botan were sitting down on the steps leading towards the shop. Kurama was playing songs nonstop with his guitar and Botan watched him curiously. "You're very smart, you can manipulate plants, you write like a poet and you can play that thing very well." Botan shook her head. "Is there something you _don't_ do?"

Kurama smiled at Botan. "Well...I don't get as desperate as Yusuke."

Botan chuckled, punching Kurama lightly on his biceps. "You never had a girlfriend."

__

"Oi!" Kurama stopped playing his guitar and leaned his head close to Botan's. He crinkled his nose playfully. "Who told you I never had a girlfriend?"

Botan stuck her tongue out. "I'm a ferry girl. I know lots of things."

"Not everything," Kurama pointed out.

Botan stared at Kurama for a long while. Then, slowly, a smile touched her lips.

Kurama couldn't get his gaze off Botan's pinkish-lavender eyes. There was something in them that made his heart beat faster. Especially with her beautiful face...and pink lips...so close to his....

He found himself leaning closer to her.

"WAAAAHHH!!!"

Kurama and Botan blinked. Both of them reddened as they broke apart. Kurama cleared his throat and proceeded to playing his guitar again.

"KEIKO, COME DOWN HERE!!!" Yusuke cried, jumping up and down and pulling at his now-tousled hair. "ONEGAI!!!"

Botan sighed and looked up. Stars were already appearing behind the clouds in the pitch-black sky. It was eleven-thirty in the evening, so close to midnight. 

One of the street lamps seemed to be focusing on Yusuke entirely like a spotlight, as if he were a comedienne on stage, with only Kurama and Botan as the audience.

There was a scream heard inside the house. It sounded like Keiko's mother going hysterical. She and her husband came home that afternoon while Yusuke was trying to slip a note through the crack under the door. She let him in, to Yusuke's relief, when Keiko suddenly appeared and kicked him out.

Yusuke had slipped several other apology letters and love poems (thanks to Kurama, of course), but Keiko threw them all away. She probably sensed that it wasn't Yusuke who wrote the poems and prose.

Kurama stopped playing the guitar and stood up, brushing his jeans. He walked towards Yusuke and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, we've still got another chance."

Yusuke looked up at Kurama's face weakly. "Kurama, I'm tired of all this. I never realized how...."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "How...?"

"How...special she is to me...until now."

Kurama didn't reply. He glanced at Botan, who was looking at them with melancholy eyes.

Yusuke walked away, his hands jammed in his pockets. 

Never had he encountered a trial like this. No one could see it, but he was deeply disturbed by what had happened.

Years ago, he asked Keiko to marry him. She didn't say yes or no, but Yusuke knew that he loved this girl, his best friend since childhood. Loving Keiko was actually the easiest thing that he ever did.

But he left out one important fact: he had Keiko to take care of, he had responsibility over her. 

He had succeeded in saving her from all those who tried to harm her. Call that doing his responsibility. 

But he had other responsibilities. Like not making her cry. Like not letting his pride get the better of him when they fight. Like learning how to say sorry. 

Like looking forward into his future with Keiko.

If he had only known these things, he wouldn't be here, trying to convince Keiko to come down and let him kiss her.

Yusuke only realized it now—he never kissed Keiko. Keiko was always the one who started their kisses. Sure, he told her many times that he loves her, but she must be in want of something else.

She wanted to be loved like how she wanted to.

Yusuke also wanted to be loved like how he wanted to. And Keiko loved him like that.

The problem is, he didn't give Keiko enough love. All he ever thought about was himself.

When he was still a Reikai tantei, he always put his fighting before Keiko. She, always the understanding one, understood him completely. And her love for him never changed. Not even when she learned that he was a _youkai_—that he was not a human anymore.

He barely showed her how much _he_ cared.

She was the most special person on earth. Along with his mother, of course. But Keiko was a different kind of special. He loved her. He loved her so much. He loved her so much that he'd die for her.

But because of his own foolishness, he was leaving her to die. Just because he barely let her feel his love for her.

Yusuke's eyes began to fill with tears. He brushed his jacket sleeve across his face, gritting his teeth. The stupid Reikai files messed up right in the worst moment. Right when Keiko didn't seem to want to forgive him.

__

No. I'm not gonna lose her. Nor is she going to lose me. If I'm the one who dies, it's okay. But.... 

Yusuke remembered Keiko's youthful face, crying, even when she was asleep. Crying because Yusuke was dead. Yusuke had brushed her tears away then, and even when he was a ghost, he managed to touch her face. And she felt it. 

He had meant what he had said: "I never wanted to see you cry."

__

If I die, she wouldn't have anyone to live her life with. And she'll be very lonely....

Even if it's apparent that she will die before I do, I don't want it to happen now. I want to marry Keiko. I want to be her wife. I want to have children with her. Even if she grows old...and I won't age by then...at least I will have proven how much I love her.

I want her to spend her life here on earth with me....

Yusuke looked at his wristwatch. Eight minutes to midnight.

He turned back to the ramen shop. Taking a deep breath, Yusuke knocked on the door lightly. 

No one answered.

Yusuke knocked at it again. And again.

On the fourth knock, the knob turned.

Keiko, in her nightgown, appeared on the doorway.

"You haven't gone yet?" she asked him, rather drowsily.

"Well...obviously."

"Um...right. So you haven't." Keiko stretched her arms sideward and yawned loudly. Then, blinking, she smiled at Yusuke. "How persistent you are today."

There was no going around anymore. "Keiko, I'm sorry."

Keiko didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, Keiko. I'm sorry for saying those things. I really didn't mean it. I just...look." 

He reached out and cupped her face on his hands. "I love you," he continued huskily.

Keiko trembled a bit, her brown eyes full of emotions. They stood like that for a long time. Yusuke didn't even notice the minutes ticking away.

Yusuke wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Keiko pried his hands off her face. Her eyes, although tear-filled, were hard. "I doubt it." 

"B-but—"

"No buts, Urameshi Yusuke. Do you know how hurt I was when I heard you say that to Kazuma-kun? That I'm _just Keiko_?" Keiko shook her head disgustedly. "I felt like I was your _bitch_! Your good-for-nothing-but-for-scaring-everyone-away _dog_! That's how I saw you look at me, Yusuke!"

Keiko's words wounded him like a thousand knives piercing slowly, painfully, into his chest. "I never looked at you that way, Keiko. I was just...." _What, loudmouthed?_

"It seemed as if you were using me. Now...I don't know what you are to me anymore...."

"Keiko, don't do this," Yusuke pleaded. "Can't you see, I've stood in here all day because I wanted to apologize!"

Keiko sneered, a face Yusuke had never seen on her before. "What do I care? You're _just Yusuke_."

Yusuke winced.

The door slammed shut in front of him.

Everything was quiet again, except for the winter breeze that whistled in Yusuke's ears.

"No," Yusuke murmured, deflated. He leaned his forehead on the door, his hands balling into fists. He threw a glance at his watch.

Two minutes to midnight. 

"Keiko, I'm sorry," he whispered, letting tears fall down his pale face. "Won't you ever forgive me...?

"Keiko, I love you...so much...."

Yusuke suddenly felt the door open. He straightened, surprised, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand.

Keiko stood there, her face stained with her own tears.

"Yusuke..." she whispered hoarsely.

Yusuke didn't waste any time. He grabbed Keiko and wrapped his arms around her tightly, like he never ever wanted to let go of her again, like he was protecting her from all the evil the Reikai file had caused.

Yusuke buried his face in Keiko's long chocolate-brown hair and inhaled, savoring the scent, savoring the moment when Keiko was back in his arms again. He felt Keiko's own arms wrap around his shoulders. And the simple gesture told Yusuke everything he needed to know.

Yusuke felt himself slipping downwards, until he was down on his knees. He kept his cheek pressed close to Keiko's body. "_Ai shiteru, Keiko._ You've got to believe that!"

"I know, I know," Keiko cried, holding Yusuke's face in her hands. "Look at me, Yusuke."

Yusuke looked up at Keiko's face.

"No matter how irrational you are, I still love you." Keiko smiled, a smile that Yusuke had longed to see for hours. "I'm sorry. And I forgive you."

Yusuke felt her pull him up. He submitted to her will; he stood up as Keiko held on to his cheeks, wiping his tears away with her long fingers.

Yusuke suddenly pulled her close to him once more. 

Keiko closed her eyes and let Yusuke kiss her.

Yusuke's kiss of true love.

Yusuke knew that there was but one reason why he kissed her. The answer was simple, yet enchanting at the same time.

Because he loved her. 

And he meant that with his whole heart and mind.

Three pairs of eyes watched Yusuke and Keiko share a magical kiss right in front of the Yukimura ramen shop. 

"Looks like your plan worked, Koenma-sama," the owner of the green eyes whispered.

"I can't believe Yusuke believed that Reikai file predicament," the one with golden-brown eyes said. "I mean, who's stupid enough to believe that one must die when that...whatever I told him...happens? Whoever thought that a kiss could resolve _that_ problem? And whoever believes that such a file _exists_, anyway?"

The other two chuckled. "Well," Kurama told them, "I guess it just proves one thing—Yusuke loves Keiko _very_ much that hearing her die is like the end of the world for him."

"You're right, Kurama-kun," the girl with lavender eyes said.

"Well, I had to do something to stop those two lovebirds from fighting, right?" Koenma told them. "I know they love each other. Yusuke just needs some deep thought about this."

"Will you tell Yusuke that it was all a joke?" Kurama asked Koenma.

"I don't think I need to."

"Thanks to Hinageshi for showing you that Disney tape," Botan reminded Koenma.

"Which one?" Kurama asked.

"_The Little Mermaid_..."

"Oh." Kurama grinned. " 'The kiss of true love.' "

Botan gave him a thumbs-up sign. For Koenma, she gave him a high five.

~owari~

* * *

****

Author's notes:

> Okay, so some of the scenes here sound familiar. The "Yusuke (heart) Keiko 4-ever" is like that one in "The Background" by Huntstripe. My inspiration for the serenade is another Y&K fic by Ucchan, entitled...erm, "Serenade".

> About Hiei playing bass...I don't know if he knows how (really), but in a _Yu Yu Hakusho_ CD, you can see Yusuke singing, Kuwabara in the drums, Kurama in the guitar and Hiei in the bass. (But he looks cute in there, ne?) 

> You're asking who Sasaki Nozomu-sama is?! For starters, he is the seiyuu (voice actor) of Yusuke. He is also a great singer. He sang several songs in the _Yu Yu Hakusho_ soundtrack albums. 

> The song our lovely Reikai tantei sang is entitled "If I Let You Go" by Westlife. Lyrics are from...erm, the Westlife album. ^_^

> There's a part in Disney's cartoon version of _The Little Mermaid_ when the guy Eric has to give the mermaid Ariel "the kiss of true love" so that she could become human permanently. ^_^

> Standard disclaimers apply. **© Manille Alcaraz** 12/30/1999 (My last fanfic for the millennium! Yay!!!) 


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